“You have a pair of pants. In the left pocket, you have $100. You take $1 out of the left pocket and put in the right pocket. You now have $101. There is no diminution of dollars in your left pocket. That is one magic pair of pants.”

MP Market Review – April 19, 2024

Last updated by BM on April 22, 2024

Summary

 

This is a weekly installment of our MP Market Review series, which provides updates on the financial markets and Canadian dividend growth companies we monitor on ‘The List’.

  • Q1 2024 earnings season starts with the launch of our new earnings calendar for Substack users.
  • Last week, dividend growth of ‘The List’ remained the same and has increased by +8.3% YTD (income).
  • Last week, price return of ‘The List’ was up with a return of +1.6% YTD (capital).
  • Last week, there were no dividend announcements from companies on ‘The List’.
  • Last week, there were no earnings reports from companies on ‘The List’.
  • This week, four companies on ‘The List’ are due to report earnings.

DGI Clipboard

 

“The stock market is up 28% since the first quarter of 2023 while the latest 12 months’ earnings are up 9%. That can’t continue. Price is like a voting machine. Earnings are like a weighing machine.”

-Ed Easterling

Earnings Are Like a Weighing Machine: Stay Informed with Our Earnings Calendar

In the upcoming three weeks, companies featured on ‘The List’ will kick off their first-quarter earnings announcements. Starting next week, you can stay updated with our new earnings calendar, which will be refreshed weekly and accessible in our website’s ‘Premium Content’ section.

Our earnings calendar compares current ‘Estimates’ against ‘Last Year Results’ before earnings are disclosed, and we promptly update the ‘Result’ column post-announcement. Figures highlighted in red indicate a decline compared to the same period last year.

As Benjamin Graham highlights, earnings play a critical role in driving stock prices. As dividend growth investors, we prioritize companies with increasing earnings and cash flow.

For newcomers to our weekly review, when a company releases its earnings report, we include the latest updates and highlights in our ‘DGI Updates’ section below. Upgrade to a PAID subscription to access this chart and the complete edition of our newsletter.

Remember, a company’s stock price can experience significant volatility before and immediately after an earnings report. Exercise caution if you plan to execute trades during this earnings season.

DGI Scorecard

 
The List (2024)

 

The Magic Pants 2024 list includes 28 Canadian dividend growth stocks. Here are the criteria to be considered a candidate on ‘The List’:

  1. Dividend growth streak: 10 years or more.
  2. Market cap: Minimum one billion dollars.
  3. Diversification: Limit of five companies per sector, preferably two per industry.
  4. Cyclicality: Exclude REITs and pure-play energy companies due to high cyclicality.

Based on these criteria, companies are added or removed from ‘The List’ annually on January 1. Prices and dividends are updated weekly.

While ‘The List’ is not a standalone portfolio, it functions admirably as an initial guide for those seeking to broaden their investment portfolio and attain superior returns in the Canadian stock market. Our newsletter provides readers with a comprehensive insight into the implementation and advantages of our Canadian dividend growth investing strategy. This evidence-based, unbiased approach empowers DIY investors to outperform both actively managed dividend funds and passively managed indexes and dividend ETFs over longer-term horizons.

For those interested in something more, please upgrade to a paid subscriber; you get the enhanced weekly newsletter, access to premium content, full privileges on the new Substack website magicpants.substack.com and DGI alerts whenever we make stock transactions in our model portfolio.

Performance of ‘The List’

 

Last week, dividend growth of ‘The List’ remained the same and has increased by +8.3% YTD (income).

Last week, ‘The List’ ‘s price return was up, with a +1.6% YTD (capital).

Even though prices may fluctuate, the dependable growth in our income does not. Stay the course. You will be happy you did.

Last week’s best performers on ‘The List’ were Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (BIP-N), up +5.11%; Canadian Tire (CTC-A-T), up +3.47%; and Franco Nevada (FNV-N), up +2.90%.

TFI International (TFII-N) was the worst performer last week, down -8.44%.

SYMBOL COMPANY YLD PRICE YTD % DIV YTD % STREAK
ATD-T Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. 0.9% $76.06 -0.9% $0.70 17.4% 14
BCE-T Bell Canada 8.9% $44.80 -17.3% $3.99 3.1% 15
BIP-N Brookfield Infrastructure Partners 6.0% $27.16 -11.5% $1.62 5.9% 16
CCL-B-T CCL Industries Inc. 1.6% $70.58 22.0% $1.16 9.4% 22
CNR-T Canadian National Railway 1.9% $175.47 5.2% $3.38 7.0% 28
CTC-A-T Canadian Tire 5.3% $132.26 -4.6% $7.00 1.4% 13
CU-T Canadian Utilities Limited 5.9% $30.20 -6.0% $1.79 0.0% 52
DOL-T Dollarama Inc. 0.3% $112.80 18.7% $0.35 29.5% 13
EMA-T Emera 6.1% $46.71 -8.0% $2.87 3.0% 17
ENB-T Enbridge Inc. 7.6% $47.97 -0.9% $3.66 3.1% 28
ENGH-T Enghouse Systems Limited 3.3% $30.51 -10.2% $1.00 18.3% 17
FNV-N Franco Nevada 1.2% $121.47 10.3% $1.44 5.9% 16
FTS-T Fortis Inc. 4.5% $52.89 -3.6% $2.36 3.3% 50
IFC-T Intact Financial 2.2% $221.95 9.2% $4.84 10.0% 19
L-T Loblaw Companies Limited 1.2% $148.27 15.3% $1.78 2.4% 12
MFC-T Manulife Financial 5.0% $31.72 9.8% $1.60 9.6% 10
MGA-N Magna 3.9% $48.34 -12.9% $1.90 3.3% 14
MRU-T Metro Inc. 1.9% $69.70 1.7% $1.34 10.7% 29
RY-T Royal Bank of Canada 4.1% $134.57 1.2% $5.52 3.4% 13
SJ-T Stella-Jones Inc. 1.4% $80.00 4.4% $1.12 21.7% 19
STN-T Stantec Inc. 0.8% $108.50 3.7% $0.83 7.8% 12
T-T Telus 6.9% $21.87 -7.8% $1.50 5.2% 20
TD-T TD Bank 5.1% $79.88 -5.7% $4.08 6.3% 13
TFII-N TFI International 1.1% $142.96 9.0% $1.60 10.3% 13
TIH-T Toromont Industries 1.5% $129.28 14.6% $1.92 11.6% 34
TRI-N Thomson Reuters 1.4% $150.22 4.8% $2.16 10.2% 30
TRP-T TC Energy Corp. 7.8% $49.05 -6.2% $3.84 3.2% 23
WCN-N Waste Connections 0.7% $165.02 11.4% $1.14 8.6% 14
Averages 3.5% 1.6% 8.3% 21

Note: Stocks ending in “-N” declare earnings and dividends in US dollars. To achieve currency consistency between dividends and share price for these stocks, we have shown dividends in US dollars and share price in US dollars (these stocks are listed on a US exchange). The dividends for their Canadian counterparts (-T) would be converted into CDN dollars and would fluctuate with the exchange rate.

Check us out on magicpants.substack.com for more info in this week’s issue….

We buy quality individual dividend growth stocks when they are sensibly priced and hold for the growing income.